Read Online Games Demons Play (Mystic Isle, Book 3) by Selena Blake - Free Book Online Page A

had she met a
man who looked so… untamable. And yet he was so gentle with her.
Her mind couldn’t reconcile it.
    He pegged her with a hard gaze. “Promise me…
when you get hungry, you’ll feed. Order a cocktail if you need to.
Put it on my tab. Grab your chips and come find me. Just
drink.”
    His words were arrows, popping the word
balloons in her brain. “My chips.” She scrambled to her knees, her
gaze sweeping the room.
    The demon caught her around her waist and
settled her onto his lap. She had to find them. That was her ticket
into the tournament and she did not have enough.
    “Izzy.” He clasped her chin in his right hand
and held her immobile. Her heart thundered in her ribs. She never
should have taken V’s car out of the garage.
    “Izzy… shh… I had them put your winnings in
the vault. It’s safe, mausi. ”
    Had he just called her a mouse?
    “Your money is safe,” he assured her.
    She saw the calm, steady truth in his eyes
and relaxed a fraction. Safe. Thank God. Relief made her melt
against him. She was so tired. Physically exhausted and mentally
tired. How did she always manage to get herself into such messes?
Her mother said she led with her heart. Which was true. Even when
she tried not to.
    But right now she felt safe. Was she still
leading with her heart where he was concerned? In Shade’s arms, she
felt like the past did not matter and the future would take care of
itself. Why was that? Was it him; his strength feeding her? Or his
blood…
    “You did good tonight,” he murmured, resting
his chin against the top of her head.
    She let out a long sigh, one that had been
building for hours. “Not good enough. I’m still short.”
    “Hey now, no short jokes, my little mausi .”
    She laughed, despite her frustration.
    “I do not have enough to enter the
tournament. And I am tired.” She rolled her shoulders.
    “So you’ll rest. And shower. And then you’ll
be refreshed and ready to face the world.”
    That sounded like a brilliant plan.
    She lifted her head from his shoulder and
stared up at him. “Why are you being so nice?” And more
importantly, why wasn’t she running away from the intimacy? Her two
previous relationships had ended in a broken heart and near death. She sure knew how to pick men… Which was what worried her.
Right now he might seem nice, but the shoe may not fit
tomorrow.
    “Didn’t we already cover this?”
    “Yes.” She scooted to the middle of the bed
and leaned against the padded leather headboard. “But I have not
met anyone so… generous.” Except, perhaps Valencia. And Coco. “So
ungreedy.”
    “And you are worried I’ll turn into an
ogre?”
    She nodded.
    He gave her a grin that sent her heart
racing. She heard his shoes fall to the floor and then he settled
himself next to her. The mattress gave and she rolled toward him
until their shoulders bumped.
    “I’m already a demon, but not the kind you’re
imagining. And I’m plenty greedy, mausi . You just don’t know
me well enough yet.”
    Yet? She liked the sound of that. “Greedy men
do not take care of others and wish nothing for return.” She should
know. She’d been surrounded by greedy men as a child.
    His smile disappeared. “How do you know I
want nothing in return?”
    She stared up at him, searched his eyes for
the truth. “I do not. What do you want in return?”
    The corners of his oh-so-kissable mouth
turned up. “Nothing.”
    She knocked her shoulder against his. “Thank
you. For stopping when I wrecked. And taking me in from the sun.
And feeding me.”
    “You’re most welcome, Isadora.”
    “I like the way my name sounds when you say
it. I think it is your accent.”
    “My accent? What about yours. With your eets
and theeses and those Ls.” He reached over and laced his fingers
with hers. She snuggled against him and soaked him in. This was
nice. It had been almost three years since she’d snuggled with a
man, but it felt so much longer.
    “So tell me about you.